Pakistani voters on Friday had been anxiously awaiting the ultimate outcomes of a nationwide election that has surprised many within the nation by denying Pakistan’s highly effective navy a broadly anticipated landslide victory for its most well-liked social gathering.
That social gathering, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, remained the front-runner as preliminary totals trickled in a day after the voting. However the extended uncertainty made clear that the navy, lengthy the guiding hand in Pakistani politics, had failed in its heavy-handed effort to intestine a rival social gathering affiliated with one other former prime minister, Imran Khan.
In Punjab, the nation’s most populous province, which accounts for greater than half of the seats in Parliament, many candidates in Mr. Sharif’s social gathering, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or P.M.L.N., had been neck and neck with these within the social gathering of Mr. Khan, a well-liked determine who has been jailed for months.
The tight races could represent as near an upset as attainable in a rustic the place the navy is the last word authority. They mirrored the deep, loyal base of help that Mr. Khan has cultivated since he was ousted by Parliament in 2022, in addition to his distinctive means to outmaneuver the navy’s playbook for sidelining politicians who’ve fallen out of its favor.
Whereas Pakistan’s election fee had initially mentioned that the outcomes could be launched early Friday morning, by midday officers had introduced totals for less than round 60 of the 266 seats within the Nationwide Meeting, or decrease home of Parliament.
The Inside Ministry attributed the delay to a “lack of connectivity” associated to safety precautions. However leaders and supporters of Mr. Khan’s social gathering, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or P.T.I., expressed considerations that the delay could possibly be an indication of tampering by the navy.
“Any try to alter the outcomes in a single day might be thwarted and never accepted at any price by the individuals of Pakistan or the native and worldwide observers and media,” Gohar Ali Khan, the chairman of P.T.I., mentioned on the platform X.
Voting on Thursday was marred by a suspension of cell phone service throughout the nation. The Inside Ministry attributed the outages to safety considerations, whereas analysts mentioned they had been most definitely an try and hinder mobilization of P.T.I. supporters.
It got here after a monthslong navy marketing campaign to neutralize Mr. Khan and his social gathering. P.T.I. leaders and supporters had been arrested in droves. The social gathering was barred from utilizing its iconic cricket bat image to establish its candidates on the poll, a vital visible cue for voters in a rustic with excessive illiteracy charges.
Mr. Khan, a former cricket star turned populist politician, was arrested in August and issued three jail phrases for quite a lot of offenses simply days earlier than the vote. He has been barred from holding public workplace for a decade.
Zia ur-Rehman contributed reporting.
